Nov. 29, 2012

Dr. Jon W. Porter, 56, listens as Physician Assistant Peter Nobes, who worked at the University of Vermont Center for Health and Wellbeing and improperly prescribed painkillers to patients, goes before the state Medical Practice Board in September, 2011. This month the Vermont Supreme Court upheld the Medical Practice Board ruling that Porter is not liable for the actions of Nobes. / Free Press file

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Free Press Staff Writer

A University of Vermont student health clinic director was not legally liable for the actions of a physician assistant who over-prescribed opiate medications to 12 students in 2008 and 2009, the Vermont Supreme Court has ruled.

The court’s 5-0 decision affirms a Jan. 11 ruling by the state Medical Practice Board that largely exonerated Dr. Jon Porter, director of UVM’s Center for Health and Wellbeing, regarding his oversight of Peter Nobes, a long-time physician’s assistant with the center.

“We conclude that it would not, in fact, have been within the Board’s authority to discipline Dr. Porter ... based solely upon the PA’s unprofessional acts,” the court’s Nov. 9 decision said. “(The law) provides no basis for disciplining a supervising physician whose PA has committed an unprofessional act where the supervising physician has met or exceeded all standards of care.”

Porter underwent several days of hearings before a three-member Medical Practice Board panel in 2011 defending himself against a seven-count “specification of charges” document that alleged he was liable for Nobes’ conduct because he failed to adequately supervise him.

The panel recommended that Porter be found guilty of one unprofessional misconduct charge but the full board disagreed and in January cleared him of all charges. The board’s decision was appealed to the state Supreme Court by the Attorney General’s Office.

Nobes, in a separate action, was disciplined in 2010 after admitting he prescribed opiate medications to some students without an in-office visit or physical examination and, in one case, refilling a prescription for a student who claimed his medications were lost or stolen.